I wanted him from the moment I laid eyes on him and from that point on, the question wasn't if I'd have him but when...Thirty-five-year-old Matias de la Vega is good at one thing and one thing only. Though he doesn't officially carry the title of killer when it comes to his role in an underground vigilante group, he's got no problem getting his hands dirty if it means getting justice for those who can't get it on their own.Such is the case when single dad Sam Wittier is confronted by a stalker bent on murder. While neutralizing the threat is all in a day's work for Matias, what comes after is anything but. Although Matias isn't particularly surprised by his attraction to the older Sam, his inability to walk away from the still-grieving widower is a complication.An unexpected and dangerous complication...Nothing about the mysterious Matias makes sense to me. The emotionally distant soldier says what he means and takes what he wants. And for whatever reason, what he wants is me. That should have me running for the hills. It should, but it doesn't...For fifty-something Sam Wittier, life is as good as it's been since he lost the man of his dreams more than two decades earlier. After handing the reins of his successful business over to his older son, Sam is happy to settle into the quiet, simple life of being a full-time single dad to his newly adopted little boy.Unfortunately, life didn't get the message. After nearly losing everything to a deranged stalker, Sam finds himself face to face with a man who is anything but quiet and simple. There's no reason he should want the unpredictable, take-no-prisoners Matias in his life or his bed, but just like life, his body isn't getting the message.One night with Sam is all I need to get him out of my head for good. One night will be enough to end my obsession with him. It has to be...While Sam and Matias share a white-hot chemistry that neither has ever known before, that's about all they have in common. But as one passionate encounter leads to another and the line between obsession and need begins to blur, will Matias and Sam find that maybe they aren't so different after all? And what will that mean for the ghosts of the past that have haunted each man for so long?The ghosts that are willing to be buried as well as the ones that aren't...***Although not required, it is highly recommend that you read Protecting Elliot: A Protectors Novella" prior to reading Obsessed. The books feature separate couples but overlap when it comes to timeline/plot.

Shortly after the Beginning the Creator made the protectors and sent them out on a journey to find a heathen that was pure of heart. They searched for centuries. Eventually, they found one and rushed back to the Creator, all excited! We have found a pure of heart heathen! The Creator was pleased. Given a task of protecting the heathen, the protectors defended them from earthly threats. In the process, time itself was skewed to protect one familys progeny and ensure their descendants would be born. Eventually the protectors needed support from the very people they would defend. Twin sisters Avalene and Avalon, born in conflict, would set the stage for the beginning of jealousy and eventually rage. Literally transforming into a disembodied hate so intense, Avalene knew nothing of time or distance. Her fury drew in Legion and its followers to use her to their own evil ends. Unable to defeat the protectors the first time, Legion placed on the heathens family a scourge that would last four hundred years. Avalon inherited the protectors, so her descendants would bring about one small girl to break the curse and set her family free from the scourge. Soon the time would come when the protectors and Legion would clash in an epic battle of good and evil.

Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal #1 New York Times Bestseller Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption—a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade. Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all . . . When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth And poison her people’s water, one young water protector Takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.

[Siren Classic: Erotic Romance, Paranormal, Consensual BDSM, Contemporary, Shape-shifters, Witches, Werewolves, Sex Toys, Spanking, MF, HEA] Her Bear Protector- From the minute Ronan Bernhard roars into Tina Snowdon’s sleepy village on his Harley, he inhabits her thoughts and dreams. The inked mountain rescue biker is a sex-on-legs hunk, and her knickers aren’t the only ones that melt in a flash at his wicked smile. Ronan, however, keeps his distance and simply becomes another client of her cleaning firm, until the morning she turns up and finds his cottage trashed, and her life is turned upside down. Bear Shifter Ronan recognizes his mate the minute he scents her. Having her clean for him means he can watch over her from afar, because to claim her as his mate and sub is out of the question. As the village protector he has responsibilities he can’t ignore—duties that will place Tina in grave danger—even if she were able to accept not only his bear, but also his darker desires. The morning she finds him injured, his bear takes over… The Witch's Protector- They’re the men mothers warn their daughters to stay away from. In 1957 the tiny village of Middle Brook is caught between two warring MCs, the Mongrels and the Lupines. As a fledgling Guardian witch, not yet in full control of her immense powers, Joanne Lilley knows to stay away. When she witnesses the Mongrels leader being run off the road, the instant connection she feels to the wolf shifter changes everything. Is he the one destined to awaken her? Henry Hastings is the Alpha of his pack and the village’s Protector. He’s a man with a vision—all shifters will unite against the evil that haunts Cumbria at night—something the Lupines vehemently oppose. Finding his mate is a young and innocent witch wasn't part of that vision, but the fates have decided. Being with him places Joanne in danger, as her awakened powers are sought by his enemies. When disaster strikes, Henry is faced with an impossible choice…

If earth was threatened, would you kill to protect it? It’s 2084 and evil Loxians seek to destroy the earth. The Protectors, an ancient alien race sworn to protect human life, team up with two human heroes. They cross the galaxies on an epic quest to save us all. Chloe Sims and Cam Ogilvy are two ordinary people, living ordinary lives. Everything changes when the secretive organisation called the Sarissa reveals itself and thrusts these two humans into an intergalactic quest to save the world. Teaming up with Alex Crofton, a Sarissa agent and Pria, Protector of the house of Jerah, Cam and Sims must learn humility and strength. Can they save the world? FREE short stories and maps at thespeculativehayes.com

The last thing Ben Shepherd wanted was another war. But sometimes the universe won’t take no for an answer. His body and spirit mangled by a lifetime of combat, Shepherd, a retired Navy SEAL, has retreated to the desolate desert of New Mexico to heal his wounds and dodge his demons. All he wants now is peace and quiet. Both are shattered one starry night, when an alien ship crashes nearby. Out of the ship crawls the last, dying member of a conquered civilization. It’s been shot down by an extraterrestrial enemy, the vanguard of a ravenous force hunting for a new homeland. With its last gasp, the wounded alien injects Shepherd with a high-tech serum that gives him near superhuman powers. Now, with a new body but a soul as fractured as ever, Shepherd becomes the reluctant leader of the human resistance against the coming invasion. With enemies on all sides, the man who couldn’t bear the guilt of seeing one more friend die in battle now finds himself charged with protecting the entire planet.

Emperor Daniel Hankerson and his allies, including his new wife-and-super commando-in-one Hila Eban, have successfully ended the war on the other side of the Central Imperium. A huge fleet is now assembling at planet Davenport for the final confrontation with the New Protectorate. But before the battle can start, Daniel needs to open the FTL gate leading to the heart of the Imperium. The gates are a legacy of an old civilization, the Protectors. However, there is an enemy in Daniel's own family, much closer and more personal. To deal with these things, the Emperor's Own Task Force must go to Earth. Earth is the cradle of civilization. And the motto of House Hankerson is clear: Civilization must continue.

When someone starts threatening his widowed neighbor and her child, Grayson Sinclair vows to get to the bottom of it--without getting emotionally involved. From bestowing strange gifts to attempting murder, some deranged person is stalking Honor Milone and the little girl who had stolen Grayson's heart. Original.

After four years abroad, artist Jonas Davenport has come home to start building his dream of owning his own art studio and gallery. But just as he's ready to put the darkness of his past behind him forever, it comes roaring back with a vengeance. The only thing keeping ex-cop Mace Calhoun from eating his own gun after an unthinkable loss is his role in an underground syndicate that seeks to get justice for the innocent by taking the lives of the guilty. Ending the life of the young artist who committed unspeakable crimes against the most vulnerable of victims should have been the easiest thing in the world. So why can't he bring himself to pull the trigger? After years of fighting in an endless, soul-sucking war, Navy SEAL Cole Bridgerton has come home to fight another battle - dealing with the discovery that the younger sister who ran away from home eight years earlier is lost to him forever. He needs answers and the only person who can give them to him is a young man struggling to put his life back together. But he never expected to feel something more for the haunted artist. Cole and Mace. One lives by the rules, the other makes his own. One seeks justice through the law while the other seeks it with his gun. Two men, one light, one dark, will find themselves and each other when they're forced to stand side by side to protect Jonas from an unseen evil that will stop at nothing to silence the young artist forever. But each man's scars run deep and even the strength of three may not be enough to save them... Note: Contains m/m/m scenes and is intended for mature audiences Triggers: References to sexual abuse of a child This is book 1 in a series but can be read as standalone...no cliffhangers.

Everything was supposed to go back to normal when I was rescued. It hasn't. And I'm starting to think it never will because I don't even know what normal is anymore... It's been two years since Aleks Silva was rescued by his older brother from the dark underworld of sex trafficking and every day since then has been a battle. Leaving the house, interacting with people, even doing something as boring as deciding what clothes to wear or what to eat for breakfast are tasks that most people take for granted. But for Aleks, they're torture. Because freedom and choice are things that once came at a steep price and survival meant submitting to the whims of those who only saw him as a possession and plaything. Until there was one man who saw him as something more... I knew from the moment I saw him that I was going to get him out. But I also knew once I did, I'd need to let him go... He's known as Vaughn and nothing more. His job is to make sure secrets don't get out and the possessions he's been tasked with guarding never escape and tell their story. After eight years in a world where innocent kids are used to feed the darkest of depravities, Vaughn has seen things that would break even the strongest man. But he's played it smart and built up a wall between himself and the darkness that threatens to consume him. It wasn't until he met a young man who had to be a thousand times stronger to survive the life he was forced into as a child that the first crack appeared in his carefully constructed wall. Vaughn's only job was to make sure young Aleks Silva remained the ugly little secret of one of the most powerful men in Chicago. It was one job he was more than happy to fail at, and when he eliminated the threat against Aleks and set him free, he was sure their paths would never cross again. But fate has other plans... Vaughn is the only man from my other life who never had a starring role in my nightmares... but he's been in every one of my dreams. And I don't know why... When Aleks is suddenly abducted after leaving work one quiet spring evening, he's certain he'll never see his brother and family again. But terror quickly turns to relief when a familiar face once again comes to his rescue, along with all the feelings he's always had but never quite understood around the dangerous, older Vaughn. Certain that Vaughn will make everything okay again like he did once before, Aleks knows he doesn't even need to ask Vaughn to take him home. But when he does anyway, nothing he's ever experienced prepares him for Vaughn's answer... or the brutal betrayal that comes along with it. I'm sorry, Aleks, I can't do that.